Tag: recipes

Categories
Kitchen

Instant Pot soy yogurt

I’m sharing this “recipe” because before I tried it I searched around and found nothing suggesting it would work.

You can indeed make yogurt in an Instant Pot using plain soy milk and regular Yogourmet starter.

Ingredients:

  • 1 quart Unsweetened EdenSoy (the one with water and soybeans)
  • 1 packet regular Yogourmet

Whisk to dissolve the starter and run the Instant Pot for about 24 hours. Make sure the vent is open, and when it’s done watch out for the condensation on the lid – for thicker yogurt dump that down the drain. Pour the yogurt into a jar and refrigerate.

If you’re avoiding dairy due to an allergy, DO NOT use Yogourmet – it contains milk. There are other yogurt cultures around, or you can try using a plain non-dairy yogurt. Yogourmet is definitely a bit expensive, but I looked at non-dairy yogurt to use as starter instead and that stuff is also expensive. It’s supposed to be possible to use a couple of tablespoons of the previous batch of yogurt as starter so I’ll try that next!

A little update: I tried making a batch with a non-dairy coconut yogurt for starter and it didn’t work as well as the batch with Yogourmet. The flavor was fine, but it didn’t turn out as thick – more like kefir thickness than yogurt.

Speaking of kefir, I’ve also switched my kefir over to a mix of soy milk and honey. I don’t like the flavor as much as dairy kefir, but it works and the grains seem fine so far.

Categories
Kitchen

Waffles

waffles

These waffles are extremely dense, so usually a couple of quarters (along with way too much maple syrup) will fill up my local waffle eaters. I mix up the batter in a blender but any other mixing method works fine. This makes a rather thick batter – adjust the almond meal or liquid to suit your tastes and waffle iron. Heat up your waffle iron and mix up:

  • 4 eggs
  • 1/3 cup coconut milk, kefir, or yogurt
  • 1/4 cup almond (or other nut or seed) butter
  • 1 very ripe banana
  • 1 to 1.5 cups almond meal
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • a pinch of salt

My notes say this recipe made tender, not crispy waffles with the waffle iron at medium heat.

This same recipe can be used to make a baked “puffy pancake.”

Categories
General

Pork and beans

I know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t pork and beans something Yogi steals from overweight campers?” Maybe, but what if you want to relive the teenager experience of eating whatever you want, but want to do it in a way that fits in with your current gourmet tastes? After all, what is cassoulet but high class pork and beans? Let’s make some classy pork and beans!

Preheat oven to 300-ish F. Sauté onion, carrots, celery, whatever you’ve got around in bacon fat. Even better, start by rendering some chopped bacon or lardons and soften the vegetables in that. Add about four sausages. Add a can of diced tomatoes or a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste. Add a regular-sized can of beans, cannellini preferred. Add spices like Dijon mustard, cumin, thyme, etc. Once it’s bubbling, cover and bake an hour-ish. Cut up the sausages into bite-sized chunks and serve.

Update! It’s not exactly pretty, but here’s a photo of a bowl of it:

Pork and beans.

Categories
General

Grilled-braised beef short ribs

Braised short ribs

Ingredients: beef short ribs, onion, carrot, celery, red wine, rub spices, salt.

Short ribs are great grilled, but they’ve got some connective tissue that really wants to be braised. So, why not do both? First, your ribs should be big and chunky. If you’ve got thin-sliced ribs you should probably just grill them.

Start by getting your grill set up for indirect cooking. On my Weber, that means getting a smallish batch of coals going in the charcoal chimney and dumping those off to one side of the grill when they’re red-hot. If there’s greasy residue in your grill wait until that burns off – otherwise you’ll end up with a gross layer of black stuff on your meat.

Put some rub on your ribs. I like a mixture of salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, coriander, and allspice plus some fresh thyme or rosemary. Once the grill is hot and clean place the ribs on the side opposite the coals. Put the lid on. Turn them over after 10 or 15 minutes. Close the vent on the grill a bit if it’s too hot – you don’t want the ribs to cook too quickly. Check on the ribs every 15 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, heat up your oven to about 275F. Get out a braising dish the ribs will fit in. Pretty much any non-reactive (glass, enamel, stainless steel) dish or pot with a lid will work for braising. I like to throw some chopped onion, carrot, and celery in the bottom of the pot and soften that up a bit in some bacon drippings. This also gets the braising pot nice and hot for the ribs.

The ribs could be ready to braise after 30 minutes, but I like to let them go about an hour for more smoky flavor. When you’re ready, move them to the braising pot and pour some red wine in with them. Use enough wine to come about halfway up the ribs – not enough to cover them up completely. Bring the pot to a boil then cover and place in the oven. Check for tenderness after an hour, but it usually takes about 2 to achieve that desirable “falling off the bone” texture.

They’re good immediately, and even better reheated the next day. If you chill them you can easily separate out the layer of fat and harvest the gelatinous stuff for an excellent sauce.

Categories
General

Turkey soup

Turkey soup

We got a turkey a whole week before Thanksgiving for some reason, so I brined and roasted it as practice for doing it again at a friend’s house next week. It turns out even a 15 pound turkey has quite a bit of meat on it, so I’ve been making turkey dishes all week.

Turkey soup is really easy to make if you can manage to make some turkey stock after carving the bird. To make stock, just simmer the carcass in water a while. You can add things like peppercorns, allspice, onion, celery, carrot, etc. if you want to and are not completely burned out on cooking. I cool the stock a while then strain it into something for the fridge. You can remove the fat from the top the next day.

For the soup, soften some vegetables like onions, celery, cabbage, and so on in butter over medium-low heat. Add some chunks of turkey and some stock and simmer a little while. I serve it with grated cheese and homemade Worcestershire sauce.